9.2mi

Tonight was another ride on the trail. This time around, I turned left rather than right, and ended up going to Defiance, and on through to Matson. This was a nice ride, and a change of scenery for me. Defiance has this biker-bar, and come this time of the year, it seems like there’s always a group of bikers and their hogs sitting around, drinking, smoking and cutting up. Today was no exception.

This ride was a smidgen tougher, as it seemed like I was climbing a small grade for most of the way out. The GPS seemed to bear that out, as the rode rose about 10-15 feet over the 4.6 miles out to Matson. The only weirdness was on the way back.

I was riding with my music cranked, as has become my habit lately, and a kid stopped me to tell me that his friend had taken a spill up the road a bit and was bleeding all over. He really emphasized for me to be careful. As I went on up the trail, I found three bikes and riders strewn all over the trail, along with their packs of stuff. And, yes, his friend had shown signs of going head over handlebars — scuffs on his back — but seemed to be ok otherwise.

However, this pointed out to me some of the folly of the way I ride. I’ve not been wearing a helmet, having had repairs supplies with me, nor had first aid materials with me. That’s just plain dumb for someone who is so focused on being safe and having what’s needed to keep me safe. I expect this weekend, I’ll get the helmet situation squared away, and perhaps next weekend, get the first aid and repair materials needed for a good, safe, self-sufficient ride.

Another thing on my list is a Camelbak. I tried to find one yesterday, but Ghisallo was out of them and Target tried to sell me a camping shower as a substitute. While taking a shower while riding my bike is an interesting idea, I’m not convinced that’s the right answer! 🙂 Dick’s Sporting Goods was suggested, so I’ll try there maybe this weekend.

I also found a couple of very interesting bike challenges today. One of them I’m not ready for, and the other I signed up for right away. The first is called the Katy Trail Ride. This takes place in June, and is a five ride across the whole length of the trail — all 225 miles of it. There’s support teams, and folks to carry your luggage, so it’s not quite such a big trip. But, it’s billed as 35-68 miles a day, and I’m just not quite ready for that yet. My goal is to be ready next year for it, though, and take the time off to do it. No glory, just a goal for me to strive for, and a sense of accomplishment for having done something good for myself.

The other trail event is the Katy Trail Challenge, and it’s much more my speed. For this event, the goal is to ride twice the length of trail — 450 miles — over the next year. You don’t even have to ride on the trail. Riding in parks, neighborhoods, and stationary bikes all count toward the total. This is a very achieveable goal for me, and one I think I can knock out before the summer is done. As a measure, I’ve put about 95 miles of cycling under my belt this month, and that’s with not trying very hard for the first half of the month.

So keep watching, and I’ll start trying to figure out how to put some totals for the Challenge on the sidebar of the blog so you can ride along with me.

10mi

Tonight was my third ride on the Katy Trail. Last night, my bikemates went on the usual Wednesday night ride. Beck wasn’t feeling well — migraine — and I came home to take care of her. Since I missed my ride, I figured that I better get in a ride while I could.

It was a hot 90 degrees outside, but the humidity dropped off significantly compared to last night, and that helped quite a bit. Still, after 3 miles, I thought I was whipped, but found a little burst of energy to get to my preplanned turnaround point and head back to the truck.

It was a nice ride, with the music of Queen blaring from my iPod. I’m still taken aback at how beautiful the trail is, and the fact that exists it all. How could I have not been enjoying it all these years? I am now, and that’s a very cool thing. Tonight, the algae was that same bright green that I enjoyed on the first ride a couple of weeks ago, and nature was showing off a bit with baby birds, small lizards, and a four-foot long black snake scooting across the trail.

I’m thinking about even adding another night or two of riding to my schedule. Tonight, I got to the trailhead around 4.30, and was done with my ten miles by 5.30, and that’s a schedule that doesn’t interfere with mine and Beck’s time together.

6.8 mi

It’s kinda a shame that the Cards are in San Francisco at the point in time when Barry Bonds could surpass Babe Ruth’s home run total.  I expect no pitcher for the Cards would say that avoiding being that pitcher is on their mind, but I’ve gotta think it’s in there somewhere.

Do I think Bonds has been juiced up for at least part of his career?  Absolutely.  Do I think anyone’ll be able to prove it and yank his records away?  Probably not.  However, time will fix that.  Someone will surpass 73 homers in a season — Pujols is on a pace to do it — and even if Bonds passes Hank Aaron on the career homerun list, someone else will eclipse him one day.

What’s funny to me is how the fans in San Francisco didn’t show up for what could be the big night — it wasn’t a sellout.  Had a Cardinal player been chasing Ruth, the stands would’ve been full, with folks standing around outside the stadium just to be part of the magic.  St. Louis is a baseball city, and I’m reminded of that when I see the response of the fanbases in some other cities.  Tonight’s just good proof of that.

75min

Thursday is tennis night, and I always look forward to it.  This was the next-to-last night of the season, with us almost to the time when we shift from indoors to outdoors.

The night started out great.  My ankle was wrapped again, and was doing better than last week — even after that forced march of a bike ride last night!  I was zinging the ball cleverly, and starting to get my serve back.

And then the third set came around.

I was guarding the net, and the guy on the other jumped high after a lob, and pummelled the ball.  It was a thing of beauty…. that zoomed squarely at my left eye.  Fortunately, I had good, solid, big glasses on — they were annihilated.  Anything less, and I might’ve had a severe eye injury.  As it was, I have a pretty good gash on the nose from the nosepiece, and cuts on my face the lens edges.  It could’ve been a whole lot worse.

I don’t know what it is about this crowd on Thursday nights — either I’m too slow, or they’re too dangerous.  Either way, I won’t be playing next week — I have no spare glasses — and then I’ll have to decide what to do about the future of my tennis career.  :-)  Sunday morning’s crowd isn’t this dangerous, and once we move outdoors, it seems like the competitive edge decreases a bit — no league, no points.  I might still want to play under those circumstances.

All I know is that I’ve destroyed two pairs of glasses and spent the afternoon in the x-ray machine this year from tennis.  Aside from court fees and rackets, that’s making this an expensive sport!

16.2mi

Tonight, the crew from work went riding at the Katy Trail.  We decided to try a longer ride, from Weldon Spring to Pitman Hill Road — about eight miles one-way.  I can dish this distance out in just over an hour on my exercise bike, which tells me that I’m pedaling at about 14 mph.

It lies.

In reality, covering that distance on the trail took just under two hours, and was grueling.  My bikemates offered up that there’s tire resistance against the trail, and adding that I’m having to pull my weight along the trail — neither of which are seen riding the stationary bike.

I agree.

So, 9-10 mph is my speed on the trail, and the folks I ride with leave me in the dust.  I still enjoy it though, and I can tell a difference week to week in my stamina on the trail and on the bike at home.

Now, if I can just get the right music for the ride……!  🙂

17.6mi

I gave Mom a call today to wish her a Happy Mother’s Day — hope it was a great one!

She’s been following my trials and tribulation lately with me trying to kayak. I think her comment was something like “Aren’t you getting old for that adventure-type stuff?” Hmmm.

If you’d asked me yesterday, I might’ve answered “yes” to that question. I was pretty down about my performance on the lake. However, to give myself credit, I did get out there, the conditions were really above my skill level, and I wasn’t handed the best of boats for me to try handling.

In fact, I think one of the contributing factors to my tipping over is that my center of gravity lies above the waistline, instead of below it like most folks. That’s something I can fix, should fix, and will fix.

However, that still doesn’t answer the question of age. Is 42 too old? I’d like to think not. I really don’t wanna give up what I think I’m discovering about myself. I’m finding some stamina, some willpower not to quit when something’s physically hard, and I’m genuinely feeling good. Friday night, after getting a new seat for my bike, I told Becky that I’m becoming the person I’ve been wanting to become. Self-image is as an important a thing as there is, and I’m finally starting to live mine.
Dad used to toss around a couple of phrases that I think fit my state of mind about these shenanigans I’m putting myself through:

• “You’re only as old as you feel, and you’re not old until you quit feeling.”
• “It’s not the age, it’s the mileage.”

I’d like to think I still have some mileage and some feeling left in tank! 🙂

There was a lot of stuff on the jobjar list for today.

This morning had the exterminator coming to spray, and me mowing the lawn — both items needed badly!  🙂

This afternoon, it was around and about town.  Beck and I went to be “swabbed” for the National Marrow Donor Program.  That’s a cool thing.  We’d been reading about a young boy in town that is looking for a donor match, and someone footed the bill to let anyone go to the fire station in Creve Coeur, get swabbed and sign up.  I’d be surprised if I was a match for anyone — I get the impression that’s kinda rare — but you never know.  Whether they call or not, at least I gave as much as I can to help.

Then, it was off the Creve Coeur Camera to drop off some images for printing.  I’m still trying to figure out where to print my images for the show in August.  We’ll see what they come up with.  Today was “Meet the Vendors” day up there, so there was a truck from WIL, free food, and lots of vendors peddling this year’s new stuff.  While there was a fairly large number of customers gawking at the new stuff, the vendors weren’t exactly grabbing Beck and I as we walked through the store.  Guess we didn’t look like purchasers!

From there, it was off to Creve Coeur Lake to try out some kayaks.  The Alpine Shop was throwing a “You Can Paddle Day” at the lake.  The bad part was they picked the worst weather weekend.  Here it is, the middle of May, and it was 56 degrees, with strong winds and a totally cloudy day — it was cold!  I tried a LiquidLogic kayak, and prompted turned it over in the lake.  That thing was terribly unstable for me.  Now, I’m a big guy, and I don’t have the best sense of balance… add to that the decent sized waves and wind, and I was a goner before I set sail.  After swimming back to shore — BTW, the water was much warmer than the air temperature! — I engaged my demo guide, and tried a Pungo 100.  This boat was much easier to manuever, and didn’t feel like it was going to tip over and the drop of a hat.  I liked it, but the conditions on the water were way out of my league, so I only took a quick spin and headed back to shore.

Once our demo guide layed the prices out, I could quickly see that this sport is something I’m not gonna be buying into anytime soon.  Over $500 for the boat, and at least another $100-150 for a floatation device, paddle and mounting system for the truck… well, that’s a big investment that it seems I’m not yet capable of taking advantage of!  Plopping into the lake wasn’t a satisfying experience, and proves I’ve got a long way to go before I think seriously about picking up a kayak and paddling around the lakes or rivers ’round here.

13.9mi

Today, Beck and I took the day off, and went to the Cards game against the Rockies. All day, the weather looked dicey, but held off, by and large. As for me, I claimed baseball fan status, and went without my camera, intent on enjoying the game. That’s a big change for me!

The seats we had were in the Redbird Club. This is an astounding part of the new ballpark with gourmet food, a climate controlled area to get out of the heat or rain and any amenity you could think of. In fact, when you’re in the mezzanine, you almost don’t know there’s a baseball game going on. Pretty amazing.

In the first inning, Albert Pujols hit his 18th home run. Unbelieveable! He’s on a pace to hit almost 80 home runs, shattering Barry Bonds record. It’d be cool to have the single season record back in St. Louis.

The game continued on, with only a few sprinkles to be found, but by the 8th inning, the rain began to pour, and we made our way out to the truck, happy to have seen most of the game, another win for the Cards.

Darla and I spent the rest of the day in “date mode” — going here and there, doing a little shopping, sitting at Starbuck’s and enjoying a relaxing chai latte. This was a great vacation day for me, and one in which I could really kick back, not worry about the world, and enjoy the company of my spouse.

It just doesn’t get any better than that.

6.2mi

For over a year, Casey and Gene have been singing the praises of kayaking. I’ve been intrigued by the idea of having a platform to get close to wildlife on the banks of the river, and making great images. Casey invited me to join him and Emily for a trip down the Current River, so I figured I’d give it a try.

After getting up at the crack of dawn, driving to Casey’s, and loading up the gear, we headed toward Jadwin MO and my first encounter with a kayak. Casey and Emily have their own boats, but I had to rent one from the folks at Jadwin Canoe. Boat loaded, paddle in hand, and flotation device at the ready, we trucked to the drop spot at Baptist Camp.

Being on the water was great! And I had an easy time for the first bit of the river. I had one bumpy spot where I almost tipped over, but recovered. Not long after that and about a 1.25 miles into the trip, we stopped for lunch on the bank, and I devoured my two sandwiches, and dug into some of my snacks. This was serene, enjoyable, and I was certain that I had a knack for this. Good thing we ate there and then.

Not much farther down the river, as I travelled the remainder of the 6.25 miles of our trip, I wrecked bad, throwing all the items in the kayak downstream. I rescued the camera (fortunately in a dry bag — thanks Casey), and Casey and Emily rescued one water bottle (of four that I was carrying) and the bag of Nutter Butters. The fish will feed well on the Slim Jim’s and beef jerky that sank to Davy Jones Locker, I’m sure.

I also bottomed out in several locations. There’s been a ton of rain down there over the last week, so the water was over some places that ordinarily would be exposed, and it’s those shallows that caused me the most grief. Add a big guy (me) in a boat that rides low (my rental), and you have a recipe for high centering the boat in the river. In one particularly embarassing location, I tried to get out, move the kayak, and regain control three times (again launching the camera into the water, and again rescuing it) before finally getting underway. Ugh.

We made it to the pickup point only ten minutes late. Not bad, considering Casey and Emily were having to nursemaid me down the river, guiding me around the logs and rocks. I know that slowed them up, but I was so thankful for their help. About midway through the trip, Casey took my dry bag and put it in the storage in his boat, and that helped me relax a bit. Knowing that you no longer have to worry about lobbing $2k of camera gear to the bottom of the river was quite a relief!

On the way back to the truck, Casey asked our driver what the worst part of the Current River was — it was the part we ran today! How’s that for an introduction to kayaking! After thanking our hosts at Jadwin Canoe — they took great care of us! — we loaded up, and headed toward home, with a stop along the way for a well-deserved dinner of pizza and some salad.

So it sounds horrible, right? Wrong. I really enjoyed it. With better equipment — a boat that rides higher in the water like Casey’s or Emily’s, and a lightweight, shaped paddle like they were sporting — I would do better I believe. Yeah, I’d do this again, no doubt. I think I’ll need more boating skill in order to be able to photograph and not worry about putting the gear in the drink, but I really think this might be something to investigate a little further. Given my knack for throwing my camera in the water, I didn’t take too many photos this time. It’s really a shame — this was beautiful country, with loads of birds to photograph, and lots of cliffs, caves and logs to explore photographically. Maybe next time I’ll be a bit steadier in the boat.

And, the truck looked good with boats on top — almost like it wanted one of its own. How can you argue with that? 🙂

90min

Well, tonight was the first trial for my partially recovered ankle — tennis!

I’ve been dying to get back on the court since the injury three weeks ago, and tonight was finally the night. Basically, it did ok. I can’t really run yet, and I have to be careful about jumping and lunging, making sure to land left-footed first. Aside from that it went reasonably well.

Like I told my teammates last night, if I could walk off the court under my own power, that was a winner as far as I was concerned! 🙂